Twin Stars
by Destinations500
Summary: Sakura had always considered her magic and the cards to be a gift. This thought persisted until she started to realize that her magic was slowly taking over her thoughts and body, and putting everyone around her in danger.
1. Discovery

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura

"Where am I?" Sakura wondered as she scanned her surroundings. It was nighttime, and the full moon hovered with the bright stars above her. Trees circled around her, forming a barricade that prevented her from seeing further beyond.

A powerful light source illuminated the environment like the sun. Although it was in middle of the night, where the darkness would have shrouded everything, Sakura could clearly see everything around her Looking at her feet; she realized that the light source was from her own magical circle.

She clutched the star staff in her hand and felt her magical powers surged through it. She raised the staff high above her toward the moon and the stars. The yellow star imbedded in star staff began to spin rapidly as the wings on the side grew and expanded.

The Sakura cards started to appear one by one around her and bathed in her light. Before long, all her cards were floating around her, like if they were dancing under the lunar sky. The presence of her cards always gave Sakura and feeling of happiness and pleasantness. She reached forward with her hand to touch one. However, when her hand made contact with the card, the card dissolved in a ball of light.

Like if she unknowingly started a chain reaction, the others cards around her also started to lose their form. Confused, Sakura tried to call out for them, but she didn't get a response. The balls of light started fade away into nothingness. Sakura watched in panic as her cards disappear into thin air, and desperately called out to them with all her strength.

Her attempts made no success, as the lights continued slowly faded around her. Suddenly, Sakura began to feel very hot, almost if like she was burning. Pain started to spread around her body, and she collapsed to her knees as the pain sapped her strength to stand.

Panting heavily, Sakura felt moisture rolled down her cheeks. She wasn't sure if it was her sweat or he tears, but she desperately wanted to cry for help. Wondering, she was feeling this excruciating pain from her body. She grew weaker as the pain intensified, and then everything went black.

* * *

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Sakura jolted up awake from her nightmare, and sent Kero, who was sleeping soundly on her chest flying towards the wall. She was panting heavily and her pajamas were covered with her sweat. For a few moments, Sakura stared blankly at the pink blankets in front of her, trying to calm the beating of her frantic heart.

"Sakura. SAKURA!" Kero shouted at his mistress.

"Ah!" Sakura let out a short scream when Kero's shout startled her.

"Hey, are you alright kiddo?" Kero asked in concerned voice since he saw Sakura looked like she just came back from a battlefield.

Turning her head left and right, she realized was back in her room. The familiar yellow walls in her bedroom gave her relief, and embracing the fact that it was a bad dream.

"Sakura! Earth to Sakura!" Kero broke Sakura's train of thought, as she focused her attention at the flying yellow plush doll in front of her.

Sakura saw a red bump on Kero's forehead. "Hoe…sorry, Kero-chan." Sakura apologized for flinging him into the wall when she awoke.

"It doesn't matter. But what the hell happened to you, did you have a prophetic dream?" Kero asked curiously.

Sakura nodded. "I think so…" She can never really tell which dreams are supposed to be prophetic dreams and which ones are common dreams. They were all just dreams to her, but she assumed prophetic dreams were the ones where she could remember the dream clearly.

"Can you tell me what you saw?" Sakura nodded again.

Sakura described to Kero what she saw and felt in her dream. Kero's face began to darken with worry, since what she just described wasn't something that could be taken lightly.

"I don't know what it means, Kero. Ever since the capture of The Nothing a year ago, I had never had dreams this vivid again. And, every time I had those dreams, something always happen afterward. Like the dream about Yue and the final judgment, and the dream when Eriol first came to Tomoeda." A feeling of uneasiness started to plague Sakura's mind.

In the back of her mind, Sakura wanted to brush aside the dream she had as a common nightmare every person experiences once in a while. However, everything felt so real in that dream, the surroundings, the cards, and the pain. Incidentally, Sakura could still feel a lingering sense of pain in her body, which added more to her worries.

Sakura lowered her head dejectedly. "Kero-chan, do you think the cards will leave me?"

"Of course not! Sakura, the cards love you, and I and Yue love you as well. We would never abandon you." Kero patted Sakura on the head, and felt the moisture of her sweat, and recognized that Sakura was really shaken by the dream.

"You shouldn't worry too much about it. Dreams are often misleading and can represent something completely different. " Kero stated with confidence, trying to cheer Sakura up.

Sakura raised her head and looked at Kero. Her emerald eyes showing signs of gratitude for supporting her and talking with her about the dream.

"Thank you, Kero. I feel a lot better now." She smiled softly.

"Now, get back to sleep. You have school today." Kero commanded.

Looking up at her alarm clock, she was surprised that it was only three in the morning.

She went to her closet and changed her pajamas that have been drenched with sweat with fresh news ones, and made her way back to her bed. She lay on her bed, and got into a comfortable sleeping position, while Kero helped pull the blankets over her.

"Good night Kero. Sorry for waking you up so suddenly." Sakura said as she closed her tired eyes.

"Good night, Sakura."

* * *

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"Hey monster, wake up already! Your alarm has been ringing for ten minutes now." Touya shouted from Sakura's bedroom door. Sakura got up groggily, and reached for the alarm to turn it off. Focusing her sleepy eyes on the time shown on the clocks, her eyes sparked into life.

"Ah! I'm going to be late!" Tossing her alarm clock to the side, Sakura hastily made her way out of bedroom to her wardrobe, and knocked Kero off the bed in the process.

"You must really be a monster if you can sleep with the alarm ringing for ten minutes." Touya quickly closed the bedroom door before a pillow flying came flying at his face.

"Breakfast is ready downstairs." Sakura heard Touya through the door as she grabbed her school uniform and put it on. She did not have that nightmare again when she fell asleep again during the night. At least she was happy to know that the prophetic dream had the decency to let her take a break.

Suddenly, she sensed a dangerous presence from behind. She turned around quickly and saw Kero hovering in front her. Another red mark was added to his head.

"Sakura, I am not some rag doll that can be thrown around. I have feelings too." Kero said in a sorrowful tone.

"Heh heh, sorry, Kero-chan." Sakura said apologetically.

"You and Clow Reed are the same. You both treat me as I was just some kind of doll; A nobody." Kero flew lifelessly towards a corner of the room.

"Is he sulking?" Sakura thought. "Yes, he is definitely sulking."

"Hey Kero-chan, How about I make it up to you by buying you some sweets when I get back from school?" Sakura said in a soft voice like she was trying to cheer up a child.

Upon hearing the word sweets, Kero zipped back in front of Sakura. His expression changed from being sad to an expression a little kid who have if he received what he wanted in Christmas.

"Strawberry cheesecake?" Kero asked.

Sakura nodded and agreed. After cheering Kero up, she left the room, and hurriedly walked down the stairs to the living room.

"Good morning, Sakura." Sakura was greeted by her father when she arrived in the dining room.

"Good Morning, Dad."

"Good morning, Mom" Sakura greeted at the picture of her mother on the table.

"So the monster finally made its way out of the cave." Touya said teasingly as he sipped his morning coffee.

"For the last time, I am not a monster!" Sakura made an attempt to stomp her brother's foot, but failed because Touya quickly retreated his foot.

"Sakura, you better hurry and eat your breakfast or you will be late for school." Her father reminded her.

"For the 237th time." Touya quickly added his sly remark at the end.

"Well, for your information, I have not been late to school once in this semester, no matter how late I sleep in." Sakura said with her chest puffed out in pride.

"Is that something to be proud of?" Touya questioned, but Sakura ignored him, and she quickly began eating her breakfast.

"Well, I will be off then. Later Dad." Touya walked up to Sakura, and gave her a quick pat on her head.

"You be safe, squirt." Touya left the living room and headed to the front door, with Sakura glaring at him.

Although Touya liked to tease her, Sakura knew that her brother cared about her deeply. From time to time, she wondered whether her brother knew that she had magical powers. He was certainly suspicious of Kero all the time. Maybe someday, she would be able to tell him and her dad about her powers when she found the proper time.

After eating the last bit of her breakfast, she said goodbye to her father, grabbed her backpack, and made her way to the front door.

"Let's see now, class starts in ten minutes, and it would take me about fifteen minutes to get to school even if she rollerbladed." It was in situations like these that Sakura was glad she had the cards to help her out.

She moved to a place where no one could her see her, and summoned her star staff. She pulled out a Sakura card from her pocket, threw it in the air above her, and pointed the tip of her staff towards it.

"Fly!" she shouted. White wings grew from her back and fluttered, causing a shower of white feathers around her.

She took out another card from her pocket, and threw it into the air.

"Light! Bend and distort the light around my body so that I may become invisible." Sakura commanded. A beautiful woman in white sprang forth from the card, and swirled around the card mistress before fully enveloping her. When the female spirit faded after doing her magic, Sakura took off to the skies, and flew towards her school.

She always liked flying through the sky. The cool breezes blew past on her face and body, and the freedom of having the sky to herself. In a few moments, she landed gracefully on the school's rooftop. She undid her light spell, and her white wings disappeared and transformed back into a card, which she placed back in her pocket.

She quickly made her way downstairs towards her classroom. A passing glance at a clock told that she had a few minutes before classes start.

Sakura entered the classroom, greeted her friends, and walked over to her desk. Tomoyo, her best friend and sat on the desk next to her, greeted her happily with a smile.

"Did you use "Fly" to get here?" Tomoyo asked in whisper.

"Hoe? How did you know?" Sakura was curious to know how her friend knew.

"Your hair is a complete mess, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo smiled as she watched Sakura trying her hardest to fix her auburn hair with her hands.

"Here, Sakura-chan. Let me help." Tomoyo pulled up a comb from her backpack, and began to gently comb Sakura's disheveled hair.

"Thanks, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura said with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"No problem Sakura, we can't have your perfectly cute look ruined by a messy hairdo. This is because I need you to try some more or my outfits after school." Tomoyo said as she somehow got out her video camera out without Sakura noticing.

"Hoe…alright." Sakura said with a nervous smile.

Ever since the conclusion of her cardcaptor days with the capture of the Nothing card, nothing strange had happen in Tomoeda. As a result, Tomoyo was rather disappointed that she wasn't able to continue to film her beloved Sakura fighting and tackling her magical enemies and problems. Eventually, Sakura became somewhat Tomoyo's own personal model because Tomoyo was keen of making more of her costumes for Sakura.

On the other hand, Sakura was relieved. After two years of capturing the Clow cards, and then dealing with reincarnation of Clow Reed and transforming the cards, she was glad it was over. She enjoyed the peaceful life she has now with her cards, guardians, family, and all her friends. However, it would have been perfect, if she was also able to experience it with one other person.

She looked behind her, and saw the empty seat and desk, where her former rival and the person who stole her heart once sat.

"Syaoran, I wonder what you are doing right now?" Sakura whispered to herself.

* * *

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"So it has already been five years." The man said as he walked towards the gate which said arrivals.

The Tomoeda airport was filled with people walking through corridors to get to their destination. A lone man walked among them. From a glance of his hair color and facial features, one could easily assume that he was Japanese or of Asian descent. However, his eyes were blue like the sea. He wore a black western suit with a thin and long brown coat over it. Unlike the rest arriving passengers, he carried no luggage.

"I am pretty certain that I left the Book of Clow in this city five years ago." The man thought to himself, trying to remember if he was right. He took a folded piece of paper out from his coat, unfolded it in front of his eyes, and scanned it.

"Yes, I am correct. So the next location for the book would be…Munich, Germany. Damn, why is it so far away this time? It's getting very annoying that I need to move the Book to a new place every five years." The man complained to no one in particular.

"Well, might as well get this done quickly. " The man extended his arm fully in the empty space in front of him.

"Book of Clow, answer me." The man commanded inside his head. However, there was no response.

"Huh? I say again, Book of Clow, answer me." The man tried again, but again the only answer it got was dead silence.

"I am absolutely sure I left the book here." The man panicked as he checked the folded piece of paper again. He started to notice that that he was attracting attention as the people passing by him looked at him awkwardly.

To avoid gathering any more unnecessary attention, he decided to walk to someplace quieter, and with less people.

The man double checked and triple checked the paper, and every time it indicated that the book should be here.

"It needs to be here, or I am going to be in big trouble." Since calling the Book of Clow was useless, he tried to sense the magical energy that radiated from the book. It was faint, but he was feeling a lingering magical presence belong to the Book. Unfortunately for him, the magical energy he sensed were scattered all around the city.

"Don't tell me someone found it and stole it? He was going to be in a lot of trouble if a person was misusing the Clow Book, and hurting other people." The man face went pale with dread.

"Okay, in times like these, I should not panic. I just need to find the person who has possession of it, and take that person down. Yes, that is all of I have to do." The man gave a light laugh to cheer himself up.

He grabbed a map of the city as he walked out of the airport.

"Trying to find the book is going to be a pain." With that last remark, he mentally set a route of where he sense traces of Clow book's magic, and set off to find it.

* * *

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Tomoyo was returning home from school in her family car, feeling satisfied with the pictures and footages she took of Sakura wearing the outfits she had made. A slight giggle came from her mouth as she thought about it. When the car turned to the walkway, she saw a man in a brown long coat, arguing with someone on the intercom in the front gates.

"I just want to ask some questions! Please understand, I'll die." The man pleaded.

Tomoyo stopped asked the car to stop near him to see what was the commotion is about.

"First of all mister, I do not know who you are, nor do I want know. I do not buy this nonsense about magic and artifacts." The person on the other side of the intercom retorted.

"Please, just let me talk to one of the members of this house." The man pleaded desperately again.

"No."

"I guess I will do this the hard way with brute force." The man whispered to himself. As he was about to use his magic to burst through the front gates, he spotted a car pulling up beside him. He saw an elegant young girl with gray-violet hair in the backseat of the car.

He stood in front of the car, blocking it from entering the gates. Immediately, two of Tomoyo's bodyguards came out the car, with intent of removing the guy from where he was standing.

"Look, I just want to have a little conversation with that young miss in the backseat. No need for violence." The man said, but the bodyguards ignored him and approached threatingly.

"So you want to fight me? Well, you would only hurt yourself." The man warned.

One of the guards lunged at him in order to grab and apprehend him. The man gracefully glided to the side, and watch the guard clumsily jumped passed him, and crashed into the games. Infuriated, the guard attacked him by sending his fist right at the man's face. The man caught the fist as it was approaching him like if it was standing still. The guard tried to retract his fist, but his hand wouldn't budge from the tight grip.

The man took a step forward, and punched the guard in the stomach, knocking him out. While, the man was distracted with the other guard, a guard managed to grab the man, while he wasn't looking, and put him in a shoulder lock.

The man yawned at the guards' futile attempt at apprehending him. Electricity started to radiate from his body, and bright flash of light sprang forth from his body. After the light died down, the guard that put him in the lock was electrocuted, and fell to the ground.

"See, I told you that you would only hurt yourself. They never listen, always." The man walked towards to the car.

Tomoyo seeing the fight in front of her, and realizing that the man was definitely not a normal human, tried to make a run for it. However, by the time she went for the door, the man was already by her windshield.

"Um…don't worry, I am not here to hurt you. You see, I am actually very friendly!" He saw the girl in front of her retreated to the other side of the car in fear. From a glance, he could tell that she did not have the Book of Clow. He sensed no magic energy coming from her.

"Look, I am trying to find something I lost. Did anything strange happen to you while you were living in this house?" The man asked.

"Strange?" Tomoya asked questioningly.

"Yes, like things disappearing without explanation. Or accidents that have an unexplained cause,or things being moved around without anyone moving them. Those kind of strange things."

Tomoyo instantly thought about Sakura and her cards. However, in the interest of her friend's well-being, she decided to deny everything she knew.

"No, nothing like that had ever happen." Tomoyo stated boldly.

"Ah I see. Sorry to for disturbing you and about the guards, I can't really hold myself back enough in order not to hurt commoners. Have a good evening." The man said and he started to walk off.

"Wait! Can I have your name?" Tomoyo asked before the man left.

"My name is Sekai." The man replied as he walked off.

As Sekai was walking to his next location of interest, he knew that the girl was hiding something. However, he didn't want to stick around that place for any longer. The person on the intercom probably saw him took the out the guards through the security cameras, and had probably called the police or more guards. The last thing he need on top of all his problems was unnecessary fights, or becoming a wanted man by the police.

* * *

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"I hate math." Sakura muttered underneath her breath as she tried to solve the linear equations in front of her. Kero was sitting on the desk, indulging on the strawberry cheese cake she brought for him.

"Maybe you should ask your dad to help you." Kero suggested.

"No, he is already tried enough already from his work. Besides, he is out of town tonight and tomorrow for his excavation project." Sakura said.

"How about your brother?"

"I would rather die than to ask him for help. He would probably make me do all his chores for a week in exchange." Sakura pouted.

"Then I guess you're stuck."

A phone call diverted her attention, and Sakura made her way to answer it.

"Hello?" Sakura inquired.

"Sakura-chan!" It was Tomoyo's voice and she sounded urgent.

"Sorry that I called you so late because after today's evening incident, my mom went berserk and wouldn't let me go." Tomoyo sounded apologetic.

"Incident? Are you ok Tomoyo-chan? Is everything fine?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I am completely fine, you don't need to worry. About the attack, it was a man who caused it. He asked if me if I have seen something strange lately, and he was looking for something. I got the feeling he was looking for the Clow Book because he seemed to have magical powers." Tomoyo remarked.

Kero was listening in on the conversation beside Sakura.

"It wouldn't be uncommon for other magicians to be looking for the Clow book, since is a one of the most powerful magical artifacts in the world. However, there are also a lot of magical artifacts scattered around the world too, so we can't assume for certain that he is looking for the Clow book." Kero stated.

"But we should be cautious. Luckily Sakura has done a good job in hiding her magical presence and the presence of the Sakura cards. So unless she performed some magic, he shouldn't be able to detect anything, and would probably just leave." Kero continued.

"I hope it would turn out that way." Sakura gave a hesitant laugh. The sound of the doorbell rang. Taking a peak on her alarm clock, Sakura wondered why they would have a visitor at 10 pm at night. She looked outside through her bedroom window and saw a man standing at the front door.

"Um…Tomoyo-chan can you describe the man that attacked you?" Sakura asked nervously.

"let's see, he has black hair, wears a brownish long coat, and a black suit underneath it. His eyes are blue, and he said his name was Sekai."Tomoyo continued to list the characteristic of the person.

Sakura felt a sweat a drop as the characteristics that Tomoyo listed fits perfectly on the person who was currently ringing the doorbell.

The front door opened, and Sekai was greeted by an irritated Touya.

"Hello!" The man said in a friendly tone.

"Who are you?" Touya asked with impatience and suspicion seething from his voice.

"I am here to investigate the unusual concentration of magical energy around this house. Do you mind if I take a few minutes inspect it?" Sekai asked politely.

Touya just stared at the person in front of him with eyes that told the person in front of him was crazy. Touya started to close the front door, as an indirect sign of telling Sekai to go away.

However, before the door completely closed, Sekai managed to grab the ledge of the door and held it in place. Touya tried pulling on the door with all his might, but to his surprised, the door wouldn't budge.

"Go away or I will call the police." Touya said with anger in his voice.

With his hands firmly hold the door in place, Sekai asked again. "Please, I just need a few minutes. We would both be better off if you just cooperate."

"Is that a threat?" Touya knew that his person was dangerous and suspicious. Two very good reason to never let this person in the house or anywhere near his little sister.

"Nope, just an advice." Sekai smiled.

Sakura and Kero went downstairs to take a peek of the situation in the front door.

"Hoe. This seems bad." Sakura whispered to Kero.

"It looks like your brother is having a tough time with him. Not only that, that person has powerful magical aura, it would be wise to not let ourselves get detected."

Sekai was finding the person in front of to be very stubborn and annoying. Even when he showed him the difference in power between them, he still would not do as he said. Taking him out would be easy enough for him. However, he saw a little girl walking back up the stairs.

The girl caught his attention because he didn't felt any trace of magical energy coming from her. Normally, this wouldn't have caught his attention, but this house was covered with traces of magical energy. Even the stubborn person in front of him has some trace of magical energy on his body. It is like seeing a spotlessly clean object in a place covered with filth.

"She might be hiding magical her energy. If that is the case, she seemed rather inexperienced at it." Sekai noted in his mind.

Knowing that he had found something suspicious and interesting, he had no more reason to talk to the person in front of him. The person was also about the call the police, which did not want to be involved with.

"Fine, you winl." Sekai sighed, as he let go of the front door, which instantly slammed shut. He will need come back later in order investigate that girl.

"It seemed like he left." Kero said as both he and Sakura watched the man leave.

Sakura let out a big sigh, and mentally thanked his brother.

"We should be on guard, and don't use magic carelessly." Kero advised and Sakura nodded.

* * *

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Sekai came back again late at night. Before he left, he noticed that there was a bedroom window on the top of the house. He jumped and landed quietly on the roof. After looking checking if there were any magical wards on the roof, he went towards the window.

He held out his index finger, and let his magical energy flow through it. A small yellow tipped blade sprouted from his fingertip. He craved a small hole in the window just big enough for his hand to reach in.

When Sekai was finished carving the opening on the window, he reached inside and unlocked window. He stealthy made his way inside the house.

"Infiltration successful." Sekai whispered in his mind. He felt was like he was ones of those top secret spies from one of the movies he watched. The room was dark, and the only light source was from the moonlight that shone through the window. He looked around, and recognized that this was a bedroom. Looking over to the bed, it was the little girl he saw earlier today that walked up the stairs.

"Well, a top secret agent that sneaks into little girls' bedrooms in the middle of the night. What a disgrace I have become." His glorious thought of him being a secret agent hero suddenly turned into great distaste.

The room he was in was saturated with magical energy, which added to Sekai suspicions. There was high probability that he will find something related to the Clow book in this house. He walked over to the wardrobe and began to search for any clues. He found nothing in the wardrobe, except for some curious costumes that would make one wonder where she got them from. He heard a groan from behind and quickly looked behind.

The girl was groaning and panting heavily in her sleep, and sweat was falling from her face. She seemed to be having a terrible dream. In the back of his mind, he wanted to help her by waking her, but in doing so would jeopardize his entire mission.

Ignoring her, he made his way to her desk, and began to search. He started with the objects and books on the top of her desk, and then began to search the drawers. He opened the top drawer, and found a familiar book.

The book seemed very similar to Clow book he was looking for, but it was very pink.

"I don't remember the book to be this pink and girly; I remembered it to be red. Looking at the front cover of the book, it said Sakura." Sekai assumed Sakura was the little girl's name.

He reached for it to take a glance of its contents. When he made contact, a spark appeared and it zapped his hand.

Sakura instantly woke up from her nightmare when she felt a reaction from her cards. She immediately looked in the direction of her desk. Sekai, noticing the movement of the girl sleeping behind him, looked around to check. Emerald eyes met sapphire, and Sekai quickly leaped towards Sakura, to restrain and cover her mouth, so she wouldn't scream.

"Don't scream, I'm not going to hurt you." Sekai said soothingly, but Sakura kept flailing her arms, trying to get the person off her.

Sakura was panicking. Part of her mind was still experiencing the same nightmare she had the night before. And now, something was trying to restrain and keeping her mouth shut. She struggled like her life depended on it.

"Calm down and stop struggling already or I will seriously need to hurt you." Sekai warned.

"What do you think you're doing to Sakura?" Sekai heard a voice that wasn't his nor the girl he was holding. He created a small orb of light to illuminate the surroundings, and saw a yellow flying plush toy centimeters away from his face.

Kero's sudden appearance startled Sekai and caused his hold on Sakura to lessen for a few seconds. Taking this opportunity, Sakura managed to slip out her hand, and elbowed the attacker in the face. The attacker released his hold and Sakura managed to escape Sekai.

"Key that hides the power the stars, show your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under our contract. Release!" Sakura commended.

Sekai was amazed that the young girl in front of him was channeling magic. He had not expected this development.

"Sakura cards, come to me" Sakura commanded. Sakura opened her hand, and the deck of Sakura appeared and landed on her hand. She threw a card into air.

"The Clow cards?" Sekai thought as he watched the cards gathered at the little girl's hand. "She couldn't possibly be the new master."

Sakura analyzed the person in front of her. "This was the person from earlier tonight. Was he after the Sakura cards? It is best to capture him first, and let him explain himself." Sakura thought inside her head.

"Shadow! Bind and capture the intruder." She pointed the star staff at the shadow card in the sky, and stream of darkness rushed towards Sekai.

Seeing shadows converge around him, Sekai tried to evade it, but the small confines of the room gave him no space to do so. Instead he created another bright light from his hand, and lit up the entire room, which warded off the shadow.

Sekai wasn't expecting this type of development. " I should neutralize her first , and interrogate her later." Instantly, He counter attacked by shooting a giant blast of electricity from his hand towards the girl.

"Shield!" A barrier form around her which deflected the blast, and sent sparks of energy everywhere throughout her room.

Sekai closed the distance between him and Sakura, while she was on the defensive. Because of the limited space in the small bedroom, close hand to hand combat would be most efficient. Also, the fact he could easily overpower anyone in melee combat gave him a comfortable advantage. He struck with a kick to the side, which she managed to block with her staff just in time, but it still sent her flying towards the desk, and knocking everything over.

"Ow, that hurts. Maybe capturing him was not really feasible." Sakura quickly recovered from the strike, but she realized that she was still in a bad situation. Before the man closed the distance to pin her down, Sakura quickly activated another card.

"Fight!"

Sekai launch a fist aimed at her stomach to knock her out, but she dodge the blow, and instantly countered with a roundhouse kick towards his gut. Sakura managing to get past Sekai's guard with the help of the fight card, the roundhouse made a direct hit, which sent him stumbling back towards the wardrobe, and knocked over all the outfits Tomoyo gave to her.

"I got a lucky hit that time; I doubt it would work again." Taking the moment to regain her composure, she prepared herself for her next move.

The spontaneously increase in the girl's agility threw Sekai off guard. Hell, everything she was doing was throwing him off guard. This girl magical power was powerful; he wondered how she managed to hide it from his detection.

Sekai quickly reassessed the situation. "This girl is too unpredictable in her abilities. It would be risky to draw out this fight any longer because there is no way to know what she can do next. A large powerful attacked would be needed." Sekai thought as he decided on a spell to take the girl down in the next hit.

"O' god of lighting, come to my aid. Lightning converge around me. And become the blessed light that strikes all evil." Electrical energy started to spread through his body as he chanted out he spell.

Sakura noticed that the enemy was channeling massive amount of energy throughout his entire body into his hands. "A ranged magical attack? I can get in close to stop him from channeling. However, he is more skilled and experienced than me in close combat, and this could be a trap to draw me into close combat with him." Sakura contemplated on her next move, and decided to meet his attack head on with her own ranged magical attack.

"I call upon the powers of my star, grant me the strength of your brilliant light." Sakura's magical circle lit up more brightly as she called summoned as much magical energy from her body as she can.

"Pease Sakura cards, draw your power from my light in name of your master, Sakura!" Sakura threw a card in the air, as Sekai extend both his hands towards Sakura's direction. Energy swirled around the two the magicians.

"Rageki!"

"Thunder!"

The two beams of lighting energy collided in the center of the room, and created a volatile ball of raw magical energy that shone like the morning sun. Both sides were putting everything they have in trying to overpower the other, as the ball of energy pushed back and forth. Sparks flung everywhere, turning everything it touches into ash, and scorching the sides of the wall. The white ball of magical energy soon grew too unstable by constant inflow of magical energy and exploded, sending a power shockwave that knocked both parties back hard.

Sekai crashed against the wall, leaving a big dent. On the other hand, Sakura flung back towards the window, her back hit the wall, and her head smashed against the glass, shattering it. Sekai quickly recovered from the blow, and ran towards the girl. He saw that he girl was still lying on the floor defenseless. She had no guard up, and was still recovering from the blast. Sekai took this chance to land the finishing the blow.

"This is it. I got you." Sekai said in his mind.

However, just before his blow was about to connect, he suddenly could not move his body. Sekai quickly looked at his arm, and saw that there was black stream of darkness that wrapped around his arm, which prevented him from moving it. Taking a closer look at this body, he noticed that the black stream has wrapped around his entire body and that it was coming from the shadows within the room. Coming to the terrifying sensation he had been caught and bounded, he struggled to break out of the bind, but with no success.

"Crap, she got me." Sekai said in defeat.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N:<strong> I hope my readers enjoyed this first chapter, which serves a bit of introduction to the current setting and timeline in the CCS universe. Please review and tell me what you think about it. Your feedback and critiques will be carefully considered as I write further chapters for this story.


	2. Gathering

Both magicians were at a standstill, and silence permeated the small wrecked bedroom. The moonlight shimmered on the broken window and the many glass fragments that scattered around the card mistress. A red tint traced the rigid edges of the broken window, glittering with the rest of the broken pieces.

"Sakura are you alright!" Kero emerged out of the darkness, flying straight towards his mistress. He felt guilty that he was unable to protect her. However, if he was to transform into his true form, he would have easily taken up a half of the space in the room. With barely any space to move and maneuver, he would just be sitting duck that will get in the way. Fire magic was out of the question, unless he wanted to risk burning the entire house down.

There was no response from Sakura and not even a slight movement from her body that indicated if she heard him or not. Looking at the back of her head, Kero saw blood bleeding from the back of her head down to her neck, and stained the collar of her pajamas red.

"You're bleeding from the head! I'll get your brother to help, just stay still." Kero flew straight for door. Although Kero knew that by doing so would reveal his secret to Touya, her safety was his top priority.

As he reached the doorknob, he heard shuffling sounds from behind him. Turning his gaze behind him, he saw Sakura's hand slowly moving towards her star staff. She clutched the staff in her palm, and steadily rose to her feet. Droplets of blood dripped from her chin as she stood up firmly like she did not feel any pain at all.

"Hey kid, you're pretty hurt. Are you sure you want to be standing up like that?" Sekai stared coldly at Sakura as she began to walk towards him.

Sakura tilted her head upwards, staring directly back at Sekai, who was suspended in the air by the Shadow card. Her emerald eyes were blank, losing the luster they once had.

"That is strange; her aura has changed." Noticing that something was off with the girl in front of him, Sekai struggled against his bind, but the Shadow had got him firmly locked in place.

Magical energy began to gather around Sakura while she raised the star staff in the air.

A smile began surface on Sakura's face, and it sent chills down Sekai's spine. "You shall harm our master no more." She pointed the star staff at the man in front of her. The darkness that bound Sekai's body started to tighten mercilessly around his body.

Sekai cried in pain as he felt the bones in his body being grinded as the Shadow further tightened its grip.

Kero flew toward her when he sensed something was wrong. "Sakura! Stop it! He is already defeated." The Sakura he knew and love would never do this to a person.

She was just staring at the man in front of her with blank green eyes with an eerie smile on her face. It was like she was enjoying torturing Sekai and killing him.

"Sakura! Stop it!" Kero commanded as he pulled on her arm which was held the star staff.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"What is with all the noise in here? I really thought that I was living with a monster." Touya opened the door, and his eyes instantly went wide as he inspected the room.

Everything was knocked over, scorched marks all over the room, a broken window, and scattered pieces of glass on the floor. It was like someone detonated a bomb here. In the middle of this mess, stood his little sister, who was pointing some sort of weird stick at a man that was suspended in the air by bizarre thick dark lines.

"Sakura?" Touya asked in tone that was questioning everything he saw as reality.

Sakura turned her gaze at the direction of the person by the door. She redirected the star staff at Touya, and a card flew to the front of the staff.

"Watery." Sakura commanded

A massive jet of water erupted from the card, and formed the outlined of a female water spirit that rushed towards Touya. Touya managed to narrowly avoid the blast of water fired at him by diving to the side. He mentally thanked his quick reflexes he gained from playing soccer throughout middle and high school.

"Sakura! What are you doing? That is your brother over there! Snap out of it!" Kero screamed as he watched his once gentle and kind mistress attacking everything in sight.

Unfazed by anything that Kero said, she waved the staff in Touya direction. The jets of water swirled around, and were once again crashing towards Touya from multiple directions.

Realizing that there was no way he could avoid it this time, Touya braced himself for the inevitable impact. He saw a bright flash of, and heard the water collided against something. However, to his surprised, the water didn't hit him. Opening his eyes, he saw a large yellow beast with white wings that looked like a tiger with wings. The beast stood in front of him, and shielded him from the attack.

Kero was relieved that he made it in time before Sakura's brother got hurt

"Hey, there is something wrong with Sakura, and I need your help to stop her." Kero said as he strained to hold his stance thought her relentless water assaults.

Instinctively, Touya knew that the golden beast in front of him wasn't hostile. This was because he encounter a similar being like him when he learned of Yukio's other form, Yue, and that they both protected Sakura.

"Alright, what do we do?" Touya agreed to cooperate with the beast, since he didn't have any other choice.

Kero sensed that most of the magic was gathering around the star staff. Knocking that staff out of her hands might be able to stop her. "I will create a distraction to direct her attention to me, while you get close and knock that staff out of hands." Kero explained quickly, as he strained to hold his barrier against Sakura's attacks.

Touya nodded in agreement.

"Ok, here I go." Kero blew forward a small jet of flame towards the whirling bodies of water, and carefully controlled it, so that he flames did spread anywhere else. His flames instantly evaporated the water, and created an explosion of steam. The steam blew throughout the entire room, heavily obscuring everyone's vision.

Using his nose to tell where Sakura was, Kero leapt towards her, but was blocked when he hit a force field created by The Shield. Using all his might, Kero kept pushing forward to break through the barrier. Sparks flew from the impact point between Kero and The Shield. In a short moment, the shield slowly cracked as Kero endured the pain of having his paws and face being electrocuted by the resistance coming from the Shield.

With a bellowing roar, Kero breached the barrier and shattered it.

Sakura glared at Kero disappointedly. "So even the guardians wish to hurt their master, then you too shall be erased." She said emotionlessly, as another card quickly flew to her side.

"Sword." Sakura commanded, and the staff transformed into a sword.

Sakura thrust the sword at Kero's torso with the intention to kill him. Kero, knowing that he will not be able to avoid the strike due to the small space of the room, used his arm to deflect the strike. The sword impaled Kero's arm, but managed to block a lethal strike from the Sword.

Realizing that the possessed Sakura would kill him without hesitation, Kero immediately retreated behind the safety of the wall of steam.

Not letting the Kero's distraction go to waste, Touya got into Sakura's blind spot while she was focusing on Kero, and attacked. He jumped at her, grabbed her by tightly wrapping his arms around her, and threw himself and her hard to the ground. The impact with ground loosened Sakura's grip on the star staff. Using all his strength, Touya wrench the star staff from her hands, and threw it across the room.

Once the staff was out of Sakura's clutch, she stopped resisting Touya's hold on her, and began to breathe heavily. "Big brother? It hurts." Touya heard a frail voice from within his arms.

Touya released his tight grasp on Sakura, and found that she was looking at him with half-opened eyes. Her eyes regained their depth and luster, and Touya knew that her little sister returned to normal. However, this reunion was short-lived when her eyes closed, and her body went limp against his arms.

Instantly, Touya heard rapid footsteps and sound of someone jumping through the window. He immediately realized that it was the person that has been captured by Sakura. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting about him and letting him escape by mistake. He was probably the one that caused this incident in the first place.

On the other hand, Sekai mentally thanked the gods, as the bushes softened his fall when he jumped out the bedroom window. The shadow that wrapped his body stopped tightening when Sakura's attention was diverted to those other two people in the room. The binds also disappeared when the girl lost consciousness, which gave him a chance to quickly escape.

Sekai exfiltrated the scene as quickly as he could, but the pain through his entire body increased as he moved more quickly. Judging by the pain, he knew that he had probably a few broken bones in his body. However, in the back of his mind, he knew he was lucky to be able escape with just a few broken bones because he would probably be dead if her brother didn't burst in to the room.

Despite the pain, and his near-death experience, there was only one thing on his mind. He would immediately return to England, so he could have a little chat with an acquaintance of his.

* * *

><p>It was the same place again. A place surrounded by a thick forest. The same pain and fear she had relived for the past nights.<p>

"Why am I here? Why am I feeling this pain?" Sakura asked herself the same questions repeatedly.

Looking around her once again to see if she could find any clues to what was happening to her; Sakura saw something that she couldn't see before.

There were bodies, human looking bodies, lying all around her. The bodies were motionless, lying as if they did not have any life imbued into them anymore.

Sakura's fear and anxiety grew as the thought of being surrounded by dead bodies crept into her mind.

She tried reaching for closest body to her with her hand, but her hand wouldn't move. She tried telling her arm again to move, but her body would not listen to her.

"Why can't I hold move my body? Why is this happening?" She let out a frustrated scream, but because the pain increased when she raised her voice, it sounded like a small whimper instead.

Sakura heard someone spoke out to her with a voice that sounded very similar to her own. "Are you in pain, my dear card mistress?"

Looking in the direction of where the voice was coming from, Sakura's eyes widened in confusion and shock. Standing in front of her was a person with an appearance that was exactly identical to her. She had the same auburn colored hair, green eyes, and voice. The mirror image, knelt down in front of her, and leveled her face to her own until they were eye to eye at each other. She felt like she was looking at a reflection of herself through a mirror.

The mirror image softly placed her palm on one of Sakura's wet and flushed cheeks, and wiped away the tears with her thumb.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked softly as she felt the warmth of her hand against her cheek.

She pulled Sakura into a gentle embrace, and buried Sakura's face in her arms.

"We are the only ones who can protect you. My beloved Sakura, please don't cry. Let go of all your doubts, fears, and worries. We will erase all the things that make you feel scared, hurt, and insecure. This is because you belong only to us, and we will not let anyone take you away from us." She whispered tenderly into Sakura's ear while she soothed the back of her head.

Sakura felt her head get light as her twin's words entered her mind. Comfortable warmth began to spread throughout her body, and her eyelids grew heavy. The longer Sakura was in the embrace, the more she wanted to sleep. Her eyes slowly close as the temptation to forget everything and sleep occupied her mind.

Somewhere in the back Sakura's mind, a voice screamed to her to stay awake. Her eyes opened wide as her mind snapped back to its senses. Gazing her twin in front of her, she sense something very wrong desperately, she summoned all of her might to push her back. Fortunately, her body listened to her this time, though only barely. Nevertheless, she was still able to get out of her twin's hold on her and pushed her away.

* * *

><p>The next thing she knew was that she was staring at a white ceiling with her arms stretched fully in the air in front of her. Inspecting her surroundings, she was lying in a king's size bed with luxurious white silk blankets covering her body. She relaxed her arms, and rested them on her stomach.<p>

"This isn't my bedroom." Her first thought after she woke.

She turned her head to the left, and saw a small table. On top of the table were flowers, and her deck of Sakura cards.

"Thank goodness they are safe," She smiled brightly.

Turning her head to right, her unadjusted eyes were blinded by the sunlight coming through the windows. She shut her eyes against the burning sunlight to allow time for eyes to adjust to the brightness. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a large garden decorated with flowers of various shapes and colors.

Judging by the sunlight, Sakura assumed that it was probably early in the early in the afternoon.

Sakura tried to pull herself out of bed, but the blankets were heavy, and she could not muster the strength to pull them off her. Her head also hurt, and she felt nauseous and lightheaded like she wanted to puke.

She sluggishly turned her body, which ached all over the place, so that she was lying on her stomach. She began to crawl towards the right edge of the bed, and clumsily slipped out the bed though the side.

Unsteadily, she stood up, but was having a hard time trying to balance her because she felt dizzy and nauseous. As a result, she needed to hold on to a nearby wall and furniture to maintain her balance. "My head hurts so much that I think it might explode." She groaned, as she forced her body stand up, so she wouldn't collapse on the ground.

Inspecting the room for anything that might tell her where was, she instantly realized that it was a very large spacious room. Multiple chairs lay beside the bed that was probably placed for visitors and the lavender walls were decorated with paintings that seemed to be expensive.

"At least I know I'm not in a hospital," She murmured to herself.

Sakura saw a mirror, and proceeded to walk towards it using whatever she could find to support her balance.

At first glance, Sakura could not believe that the person in front of the mirror was her. She looked like a total wreck.

Her forehead and the back of her head were wrapped in bandages, and she got numerous bruises on her body. "Well, I do feel pretty terrible, so I shouldn't be surprised at how injured I gotten." Sakura said jokingly while examining her injuries, wondering how she got herself to end up like this.

On the bright side, she liked the pajamas she was wearing, which also wasn't hers. It was light blue and consisted of a long sleeved shirt and trousers. The shirt was decorated with blue ribbons that tied into a bow under the collar of the shirt, and on the shoulders. The buttons were yellow star shaped, and lined straight down the center of the shirt. The trouser matched the shirt perfectly as small stars, moons, and suns symbols were sewed at the end of the trousers.

After checking up on her physical condition, and regretting it, she walked towards the door. She needed to know where she was exactly, and hoped she would be able to find someone that could help her once she exited the room. She also wouldn't mind trying to get something to drink and eat in the process since her throat was pretty dry.

Sakura opened the door, and was greeted by a number of long hallways, which instantly made her headache worse.

A female voice called to her, "Miss Kinomoto."

Sakura turned her vision towards the direction of the voice.

"Thank heavens, you had finally awoken. However, you are in no condition to be walking around. Get back to bed this instant." The women ordered Sakura as she walked toward her.

The women was wearing a maid outfit that she seen before, and she immediately recognized that she were one of Tomoyo's maids.

She did not want to go back to bed yet after the dream she had again. Furthermore, she hoped a quiet walk and a meal would be able to relax her a bit and take her mind off it. "Um… can I just have a walk around for a little? I want to do a bit of exercise, since I have been in bed for quite some time," she pleaded.

The maid scanned Sakura with her eyes, and noticed that she was having a little trouble balancing herself without something to support her. However, Sakura gazed at her with sparkling pleading eyes.

"Very well, Kinomoto, but I don't think you can walk very well in your current physical condition. I will go ask the nurses to bring you a wheelchair, and some nurses to accompany you.

Sakura nodded in agreement. Although she did not like the idea of being strolled around in wheelchair, she figured that it was either the wheelchair or back to bed, and she would gladly take the former over the latter.

"Please wait here while I get them." The maid turned around in the other direction.

"Wait! Before you leave, can you tell me why I am in Tomoyo's mansion?" She asked maid departing down the long hallway.

"From what I had heard, you injured your head very badly from an accident in your home. You were sent to the public hospital, but Master Daidoji had you transferred here. She wanted her own personal doctors and nurses to take care of you." The maid answered

When nurse told her about an accident at her home, she recalled the events of that night where she was fighting the magician. She didn't remember the outcome or where that person is. Nonetheless, she felt honored and glad that she and her cards were safe and that someone would send her a personal doctor and nurses to take care of her. Tomoyo's mother was always very protective of her.

"One more question. How long was I asleep?" Sakura asked curiously.

"About four days," She answered.

Sakura's jaw dropped when she heard the answer.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile in London, England…<em>

Eriol was quietly drinking tea at his table and enjoying the view of the full moon when he heard a loud knock on the door.

Nakuru opened the door to see who it was, and was greeted by an angry man with stunning blue eyes. The man clothing was disheveled and was wearing a white cast around his right arm.

"Let me in!" Sekai roared.

Nakuru turned to look and Eriol, and he gave her the approval of letting the raging man in.

Sekai walked in and aggressively brushed aside Nakuru in the process, and sat directly opposite of Eriol.

"You're a jerk, do you know that?" Sekai said the instant he sat down.

"It is nice to see you again, Sekai Reed. I was expecting you to drop by for a while now." Eriol greeted with his usual smile.

"Cut the crap! Why didn't you tell me that the Clow Book had chosen a new master?" Sekai questioned furiously.

"I had my reasons." He replied apathetically as he sipped his English tea.

"What reasons?" Sekai said with Irritability building in his voice.

Eriol held a finger in the air, a small red orb appeared at the tip of his finger. He flicked his finger towards, and the red orb pierced Sekai on the shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sekai yelled.

"You should look behind you." Eriol advised

Sekai looked behind him and saw a magical circle pinned against the wall by the red orb Eriol shot at him "A tracking spell? When did it placed on me?" Sekai curiously wondered. He was shocked that someone was able to put a tracking a spell on him, and not have him noticed it all this time.

"I do not know, but you have been tracked for a very long time. I didn't know where you were, and did not want to contact you through magic, since I do not want to be discovered." He placed his finished cup back on top of the table while Sekai examined the spell on the wall.

After examining the spell's characteristics, the magical signature was familiar, and after thinking for a few moments, he remembered who probably had casted the spell. "So, that wretched man is running around looking for the Clow book. I thought he would have given up by now." The thought of the man brought an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"He would do anything and sacrifice any person in order to pursue and achieve his dream." Eriol looked at his reflection on the surface of his tea. "Just like Clow Reed predicted."

Taking a look at Sekai body, a smile surfaced on his face.

I also see that you had a nice meeting with the new mistress of the cards." Eriol commented with a slight laugh. "It looked like you lost."

Eriol finished his tea, walked towards his wardrobe, and put on his coat.

Sekai returned back to the table. "There is something peculiar about her magic." Sekai remarked.

"It is like her magic is incomplete. She wields incredible magical power, but when I fought with her, her attacks didn't seem that powerful. However, when she was forced against a corner, something inside her changed."

"It is because she has a dormant power sleeping inside her. Her body is not yet ready to accept the full amount of magical power she currently holds. Therefore, she subconsciously suppresses it. I doubt she, herself, even know that is happening." Eriol said while he put on his coat, and began to put various objects into his coat pockets.

"A hidden power?" Sekai rested his chin on his hand, and thought deeply. "And I guess the Clow cards were passed to her in order for her to protect that power?"

"That assumption is up to you. I do not know Clow Reed's intentions when he chose Sakura as the successor of the cards." Eriol smiled. "However, if she is able to master that power, than it will be first step in ending that man's dream."

Sekai scoffed at Eriol's response. "You are always a very secretive one. By the way, are you going somewhere?" Sekai asked, seeing Eriol looking like he was getting ready to leave.

"That is because we are going to go somewhere very shortly." Eriol's glasses glimmered as he answered.

"What do you mean by "we"?" Sekai remarked.

"Me and you, side by side, together." Eriol said while Sekai's face turned green.

Eriol walked back to the table, his carefree face changing into a serious expression. "In all due seriousness, we need to get out of here pretty soon. He had probably tracked you all the way to this location."

As soon as Eriol finished his sentence, a foreign and familiar magical presence penetrated the room.

"This disgusting magical signature;" Sekai stood up on guard. "It's him, isn't it?"

The air and space in front of the two people in room began to distort as magical energy radiated volatilely from it. A dark scar started to appear from the distorted space, like if there was a tear in time and space itself.

"So how do we leave here?" Sekai asked.

In a completely calm demeanor, Eriol reassured Sekai. "I had already planned and prepared for this certain occasion." Eriol's smile widened into a grin.

'"The key that hides the powers of darkness. Reveal your true form to me. I, Eriol, command you under our contract. Release!" Eriol summoned his staff and tapped it against the wooden floor.

The floor began to glow beneath Sekai and Eriol as bright lines of light appeared on the floor, forming a complex pattern. The bright lines swerved and converged until it formed a magical circle.

"You set up a teleportation circle?" Sekai remarked.

"I created this one because I had already foreseen this situation awhile," replied Eriol.

"And where are we going?" Instinctively, Sekai got a bad feeling about this.

"I'm sure you would remember it." Smiling mischievously, Eriol looked at Sekai, which only increased Sekai's feeling of apprehension.

A bright light of enveloped the two magicians, and they disappeared.

When they re-materialized, Sekai was blinded by the sun. It was just night, and now it is the middle of day, which meant they traveled a long distance.

They were in the middle of a flat clearing, with a few wooden debris scattered around.

"Where is this?" Sekai asked.

"This is where my old mansion used to be in Japan," said Eriol as he observed the remnants of his mansion.

"Wait, your old mansion? Don't tell we are in Tomoeda," groaned Sekai.

"Is there a problem with that?" Eriol raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why yes actually, there is. You see, because of you, I am technically a wanted pedophile that breaks into little girls' room at night and assaults them in this city." Sekai answered with a venomous tongue towards Eriol.

"You sure leave a lasting impression in the places you had gone," said Eriol, looking more entertain than guilty for what had happen to Sekai.

"This is reason why I wanted to avoid you as much as I can. Everytime I do something for you, something bad always happens to me," remarked Sekai with a depressed sigh.

'So, what are we doing here exactly?" Sekai continued.

"We are waiting for the others to arrive." Eriol said.

A black limousine pulled up in front them, and a young girl with light violent hair emerged from the door.

"Hello Tomoyo-san, long time no see, and you are as beautiful as ever," greeted Eriol.

"It is nice to see you too, Eriol, and…" Tomoyo's voice trailed off as she saw the man standing beside Eriol, and took a step back.

Kero emerged from Tomoyo's purse. "What is he doing here, he's the enemy." Kero exclaimed.

Eriol, seeing Tomoyo's and Kero's reactions after seeing Sekai, tried to explain.

"Don't worry, he is with me," stated Eriol.

"But he hurt Sakura-chan badly." Tomoyo said.

"So you did. Sekai-san." Eriol smirked at him. "You really do have a reputation for leaving a lasting impression."

Covering his eyes from the blinding sunlight and ignoring Eriol sarcastic remarks, Sekai apologized to her. "Sorry for hurting your fiend. It was just a misunderstanding and things just simply got out of hand."

"Well, if Eriol say so, then I guess it's alright." Tomoyo did not know what kind of misunderstanding would send her best friend hospitalized for four days. However, since Eriol seemed to trust him, she assumed that he is not dangerous, but she was cautious around him to be safe.

"I still don't trust him." Kero said, but like Tomoyo, he trusted Eriol's judgment.

"Are we still waiting for someone else?" Sekai asked after looking around the green field.

A young boy turned around the corner and walked towards the trio. His hair was light brown, and his matched the color of his hair. His eyes were full of determination, pride, and loyalty. He was wearing Chinese garments, and his muscles showed through his clothing. At a glance, Sekai knew this kid was no ordinary kid, but a capable warrior.

"I also haven't seen you for a long time, Li-san. I am glad that you had received my letter in time."Eriol greeted him with his usual smile.

Syaoran glared at Eriol with displeasure. "Before we start, I only came back to Japan to help Sakura, and not you. In fact, the last thing I want is to be involved with you."

Tomoyo giggled a bit towards Syaoran's affection for Sakura. On the other hand, Sekai was happy that someone else shared the same opinions towards the devil magician.

"Don't be so mean, Li-san. We are all friends here." Eriol said teasingly.

Syaoran looked at the group of people, and noticed someone important was missing.

"Where is Sakura?" Syaoran asked.

"Sakura is still sleeping at my place the last time I checked up on her before coming." Tomoyo answered. "She is not feeling so well."

"Is she alright?" Syaoran immediately asked.

"Yes, she hit her head…" Tomoyo turned and saw Eriol signaling her to keep Sekai and Sakura confrontation a secret. "She hit her head during cheerleading practice, and was resting at my place."

She understood why Eriol wanted it to keep it a secret, since Li-kun would probably instantly murder Sekai once he found out about it.

"She is still as clumsy as always." Syaoran muttered to himself as walk hastily towards the car. "She should be taking better care of her body."

Noticing that he was the only one walking, Syaoran turned around.

"Are you guys coming?" Syaoran asked.

"I love Li-kun's flustered face when he is worried about Sakura-chan." Tomoyo giggled.

* * *

><p>They arrived at Tomoyo's mansion, and proceeded to the room where Sakura was sleeping. Upon entering the room, the group was surprised that Sakura's bed was empty.<p>

"Oh, Miss Daidoji." A passing maid called out to Tomoyo.

"Miss Kinomoto had just woken up shortly after you left. She is in the dining hall currently." The maid reported.

Tomoyo thanked the maid for reporting to her, and led the group towards the dining hall.

Sakura was resting on one of Tomoyo's luxurious sofas, which probably cost as much as everything in her house combined. She closed her eyes to rest them, but she did not fall asleep knowing that she would probably dream up something unpleasant again.

After she felt Clow Reed's presence a short while ago, she knew something important was happening while was sleeping. "I wonder what is going on," she thought.

The sound of an opening door alerted her, and she opened her eyes.

At first, Sakura thought she was hallucinating when she saw the person by the door. She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure it was real.

"Syaoran?" Sakura said in disbelieving voice. She instantly got up from the coach, but she lost her balance as soon as she stood up.

Syaoran darted towards Sakura, and quickly caught her before she hit the ground. He quickly pull her towards his chest and gave her a warm embrace.

This was the greatest surprised Sakura ever had in her life. He was the person she wanted to see most at the moment, especially with all the bad things that happened so far. Sinking in to the gentle embrace, she felt herself start to relax and worries started to fade away.

Noticing how weak she felt in his arms, Syaoran examine her thoroughly.

When he heard from Tomoyo that Sakura got injured during practice, he expected only a few bruises or a sprained ankle, but nothing this bad. "How the hell did you get this injured from cheerleading?" Syaoran inquired skeptically.

She looked up at Syaoran, "Cheerleading?" She said in a confused tone.

Catching Tomoyo at the corner of her eye, she saw her telling her with her hand signals to play along with the story.

"Um…I tripped and fell during practice," Sakura said.

Syaoran glared at her suspiciously. "Is that really what happen? I had never seen someone getting this injured just by falling."

Sakura felt a sweat drop as Syaoran stared at her with piercing eyes. "It was a new complicated stunt," remarked Sakura while avoiding eye contact with Syaoran.

Sensing that Sakura was having some trouble, Eriol came to intervene. "Hello Sakura-san, I told you we will meet again someday." He interjected as he came up from behind Tomoyo.

"Eriol-kun!" She said gleefully and mentally thanking him for changing the subject.

Her gaze turned to the person behind Eriol, who hiding standing close sheepishly close to the door, and her body tensed. She immediately grabbed the star key hanging around her neck.

She looked at Eriol, and he gave her an assuring smile that the man was not dangerous. Turning her head to Tomoyo, she was also giving her a thumb up that said everything is okay. She relaxed her body, and moved her hand away from her star key, but her eyes are still trained on Sekai's movements.

"Do you two know each other?" Syaoran asked noticing Sakura's jumpy reaction to the sight of Sekai.

"No." Sekai boldly stated, denying the fact that he attacked her a few days ago.

As Syaoran was about to ask more questions, he was interrupted again when Kero sprouted from Tomoyo's bag.

"Sakura! I was so worried about you!" Kero yelled as he threw towards her.

"Kero-chan!" Noticing the bandage on one of Kero's arms, she wondered if he was hurt. "What happened to your arm Kero? Are you okay?" Sakura looked at the bandaged arm with concern.

"Don't worry about it, it is fine," said Kero as he flex his muscles to show he was completely well.

However, that didn't completely erase the worried look on Sakura's face.

Hovering slightly above Sakura, Kero gave her a pat on her head. "I'm really alright, Sakura."

Seeing that Kero was trying to cheer her up, she let out a smile.

Being surrounded by friends that she loved, she knew that whatever troubles lie ahead, everything would surely be alright.


End file.
